What We Know
by embracing-shadows
Summary: The graveyard CSIs find out that they don't really know as much as they think they do about two in their midst.


Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot!

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"Well what the hell _do_ you know?" Grissom felt the guilt rise up in his chest like a slow rising wave as those words struck him right in the gut. He looked up and met wavering eyes with his honor Judge William Stokes, or Bill to those who knew him, father of the man who had been captured mere hours ago. With a sigh the supervisor of the graveyard shift Las Vegas crime scene investigators folded his hands together a little bit tighter.

"Very little," he admitted reluctantly. The judge and his wife stared back at him incredulously and he felt himself shrivel inside. It was easy to reconcile the thought of Nick as a little boy under the care of the two before him. They were proper and clean and wholly Texan from head to toe. The woman, whom hadn't given away her first name yet, had short brown hair and an average body and height. The man, Bill, was tall and thin with Nick's dark, cropped cut hair. Grissom flinched internally when the judge sat back in his chair heavily and suddenly glared across the table.

"Let's cut straight to the chase," he said in a commanding courtroom tone of voice. "What proof do you have that my son is still alive?" His face was hard, but Grissom could see the crack in his tough front when he uttered these words. The supervisor turned and looked beside himself to Catherine, the question in his eyes. Should they show these poor parents the feed of their son, buried alive? Her eyes held the answer for him. Yes, they deserved to see him alive at least once more, just in case it was the last time. So he nodded and returned his gaze to his guests, evaluating whether or not they would be ready to see this right now. After a minute or so of silence he told them to follow him and unnecessarily indicated the door of the office they were all sitting in. Both Mr. Stokes and Mrs. Stokes were immediately standing and waiting impatiently.

The two of them were led as quickly as possible down the hall to where they could see Warrick sitting in front of the viewing computer and as they came closer Grissom spotted Archie kneeling down on the floor by the wall. No one stopped to wonder why he was there. Warrick looked up and stepped back apprehensively as Gil led his two silent followers up to the computer screen. He waited a moment before leaning over and clicking the button that would start the web cam, the feed having just cut off when they stepped in.

When the light came on and they were able to see Nick, Bill and his wife both gasped loudly and froze. Long used to the mysterious and random light, Nick didn't even react to it when it came on beyond blinking and turning his face away from its onslaught. His parents watched without speaking and without moving, just staring at their son as he struggled to stay sane in what could potentially become his deathbed and coffin all in one. Mrs. Stokes clung to her husband for as long as she could stand to stay and watch. When it became too much she shook her head and turned away, very slowly starting for the door. The judge sighed.

"Aw Pancho, what have you gotten yourself in to this time?" he asked, shaking his head too. Just as he turned to walk as well a small voice halted him in his tracks.

"Cisco?" Bill Stokes stopped and looked around with a sudden animation. His wife also stopped her retreat from the room and gasped as she turned back in. They all spotted the source of the small voice at the same time, mostly because Archie was reaching out to pat him on the back soothingly, holding his face far away. Greg was kneeling in the corner, hunched over a wastebasket, wiping vomit off of his own chin. He turned shining eyes upwards and Nick's mother gave a small cry.

"Greg! Oh, my Greg!" She rushed back in to the room and threw herself down to the floor, tossing her arms around the sick Greg's shoulders.

"Jillian," he gasped back. "You're here!" He closed his eyes and eagerly returned her embrace. She let herself go then and sobbed in to shoulder, crawling right up to sit in his lap as if she were the small child. Greg held her as tightly as he could while his own body shook. Bill stepped over and knelt down net to the pair on the floor. He reached out and laid his hand on Greg's shoulder, causing the blonde to open his eyes. They were almost leaking tears now but he was bravely holding them at bay. Everyone else in the room was looking on in mild astonishment. Not only had Greg known the name of Nick's mother before she introduced herself to even Grissom, but she had seemed to know him as well.

"You'll find him Greggo," Bill assured the man holding his wife. Greg nodded and looked hesitantly over at the computer screen. He took one look at Nick, just lying there staring at nothing, and his breath shuddered. A moment later he had thrown Jillian off of his lap and pulled the wastebasket to himself again. The horrible sound of his retching made Archie flinch, but Jillian cooed and patted Greg's back like the A/V tech had been reluctantly doing earlier. The youngest CSI heaved his stomach empty, then sat back and let Jillian fuss around him. After a while he struggled to his feet.

"Gris, I'll stay with them. Can you call me if Cath and Warrick are heading out? I want to go with them to process _any_thing." He waited until his supervisor had nodded bemusedly before putting a hand on Jillian's back and leading her away. Bill put an arm around Greg's shoulders as they all walked away. Grissom and the others watched them with their eyebrows raised in confusion. When they all looked around, they could only offer each other shrugs, just as confused as the other men.

There was no opportunity for the rest of the night to ask Greg how he would know Nick's parents, and it slipped everyone's mind in favor of more important things when Catherine and Warrick went to process the scene of Nick's kidnapper blowing himself up. Greg insisted on tagging along. The weird scene from before never really crossed anyone's mind, lot in the adrenaline rush of thinking that they had found nick and then the disappointment of it just being a dog. Then it was the last thing they were thinking about when they actually had located Nick and were rushing to free him. It didn't come back to anyone's mind until Warrick and Catherine had shoved everyone else out of the way to climb in to the ambulance with an unconscious Texan. Catherine saw Greg watching them go and she briefly wondered.

But it was in the hospital that things finally came to light. The rest of the team arrived behind the ambulance at the same time the judge and his wife did and they hurried to follow the parents up to the room where Nick would be. When they got there Warrick Catherine and two orderlies were trying to hold the injured man down as he thrashed about, trying to get up. Grissom and Sara jumped in to the fray to try and help but it was to no avail. One of the orderlies was trying to sedate him but Nick saw the needle coming and swatted it away, dropping it to the floor before it could reach his skin. He was yelling but it wasn't in English and he wouldn't revert to normal language no matter what they did. Warrick grunted as Nick elbow caught him in the gut while he tried to grab a hold of the arm.

"Greg give me a hand here I've got an idea," he growled, trying hard to catch the limb that had just accidentally assaulted him. When he received no answer he frowned and turned his head. "Greg? A little help?" but when he looked around the room Greg was nowhere to be found. Warrick was in the midst of frowning when Sara cried out, Nick's other fist catching her on the side of the head. The Texan screamed directly at her but she couldn't understand what he was saying, so she had no idea what he needed.

"I heard him say something about giving us some space to be with Nick," she muttered as she backed off from the bed. Grissom jumped in to take her place trying to get some control over the struggling man on the bed. "I think he's down the hall." The door behind them opened and closed then and when they spared a glance that way, Nick's parents had left the room as well. But they didn't have time to ponder that because their patient was screaming louder, kicking harder, demanding something. They just had no idea what. At last Catherine got exasperated. They were trying to help him, to save his life, what the hell was wrong?

"Nick what do you _need!_" she yelled from her position holding on to one ankle – barely. He growled in her direction and rattled off something in whatever language he was using that wasn't English.

"Here he is!" a voice from the doorway startled him and they all paused to look. Judge Stokes had Greg by one arm and Jillian Stokes had a hold of the other arm. They dragged Greg in to the room forcefully and deposited him at the end of the bed. Nick was in the middle of giving some kind of long angry diatribe in Warrick's direction, but as soon as he looked down and caught sight of the blonde standing near his feet a miracle happened.

"Hush," was all Greg murmured, and it wasn't even loud. It was soft and gentle, but that was all it took. Nick went completely still, the fight leaving his body completely. The only people whose jaws did not drop to the floor in shock were the parents. Greg very slowly walked around the bed and Warrick and Sara parted for him like the sea parting for Moses, the wonder on their faces battling with confusion. "Hush," Greg repeated himself, "I'm here now." Nick let out a choked sob and held his arms out wordlessly. Greg smiled sadly and leaned down in to them.

With a second sob, loud and broken, Nick tossed his arms around Greg's shoulders and bawled in to his shoulder. Greg sat on the edge of the bed and gathered him up, holding him, murmuring soothingly in to his hair, while he stroked the man's back. No one spoke a word but Nick, crying words in to Greg's chest rapidly. After a while Greg let out a soft chuckle, much more calm than he should be.

"You know I don't speak Spanish, Nicky. English please." All around the room people sighed a little. Of course it would be Spanish that he was babbling in, how had any of them forgotten he spoke Spanish? None of them could, but there might have been someone in the hospital that did that could translate. Amazingly Nick paused and started talking again in words they could all understand.

"I almost left you I'm so sorry I thought I was a goner Greg I didn't think I would get to see you again before I-I-oh god Greg I thought you'd lost me!" It came out rapid and wavering but they understood it at least. He tightened his hold on the blonde man's shoulders and Greg mimicked the movement, not lifting his eyes to look at anyone in the room. He just opened his mouth to reply when Nick cut him off, a tinge of desperation in his voice. "Please don't leave me Greg god I was so scared please stay here with me I need you here I love you god I love you…" He stuffed his face deeper in to Greg's chest as he trailed off, finally silent, and the team around the bed were left to gape at him. They watched Greg for how he would react to this, but they didn't get what they expected. Greg squeezed his eyes shut and put his cheek down against Nick's hair.

"Nothing could pull me away sweetheart, I love you too." Finally a single tear slipped out and dripped on to Nick's hair, and Greg's body shuddered. He and Nick sat and held each other close, both of them trembling like newborn babes, and the only people who weren't gawking in amazement were the judge and his wife. They stood together at the very foot of the bed, arms wrapped tightly around each other, and they were smiling through their tears. Knowing smiles; smug smiles. No one else said a thing. It took a very long time for the two men to stop shaking, and when they did it was because Greg had in a way rocked Nick to sleep. He tenderly laid the older man back down on the bed, picking up one of his hands and lacing their fingers together.

"Thank you son," Judge Stokes' voice was quiet, almost tired, but it was full of gratitude. Greg lifted his head from where he had been studying the sleeping man beside him. His eyes were wet but he was smiling, glad to have his Nicky safe and sound. He didn't reply to the thanks, but it seemed that he didn't need to. As he turned back to watch Nick sleeping the rest of the CSIs in the room all looked at each other, the expressions on their faces asking each other 'did _you_ know?', and Greg studiously ignored them all. Finally Grissom turned to Bill Stokes and smiled ironically at him.

"You asked me what the hell we knew about the situation," he reiterated from their meeting in his office. The judge nodded curiously and Grissom's smile turned in to a smirk. "Apparently we don't know very much at all about anything," he stated cheerfully. From the bed Greg could be heard snorting. Bill chuckled deeply and shook his head. Grissom and the rest of his team took one last look at the pair on the bed before they left to give Nick some peace so he could rest. As soon as they were out in the hall they began making exclamations of surprise. Some were more surprised than others, and some were able to see the clues in hindsight. But something they all agreed on was that it looked like true love, and they were going to support this to the end. They were a family after all. And families stick together.


End file.
